on president obama. president obama said he would defend the middle class and hardworking people of america again. encouraged by the republicans. you know he had skin in the game, too. >> bret: there are a lot of democrats against the bush era tax cuts. >> right. >> from the beginning. all of them. >> right. >> characterizing them as only for the rich. where now, they actually are for the middle class. as we -- >> that is the great irony. if you go over the cliff, what we're going to get is restoration of the cliff rates. on everybody. which if you watch the campaign the democrats argue that the clintoner rar was economic paradise. so, they balance the budget. they create 20 million new jobs. so why not return to the cliff, tax rates across the board? but i just want to make one point about what the leverage is here. i think the democrats imagine that republicans are going to cave without anything on spending. they are overreaching their hand. the president understands that if he goes over the cliff, you